Author: April Graney
Located in: Colcord, Oklahoma
Submitted: April 23, 2025
Tell us a little about yourself. April Graney is the mother of five grown children, a wife of 30 years, a children's book author, and a middle school English teacher at Cookson Hills, a children’s home and school for at-risk students in Oklahoma. She is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, and the author of 3 children's books. She wrote her newest book, If Jesus Came to My School, to encourage parents of children who are sharing the love and light of Jesus in their schools.
What was your motivation behind this project? I teach at a school that is part of a children's home for kids at-risk, and I see the challenges of how kids treat each other daily. Years ago, one of my students who didn't fit in very well was being bullied. It took a lot of effort to create a sense of belonging between him and the other boys in the class. But praise the Lord, with some team building activities, an after-school club, and talking about Jesus, I saw the huge difference it made in this boy's life. When some of my children attended public school, we saw the school as a mission field where they could have an impact by sharing about Jesus with their classmates and loving them the way that Jesus would.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I wanted to encourage families who have kids in school to also share the light and love of Jesus in their classrooms! As children imagine what it might be like if Jesus came to school with them, they can hopefully see the actions he takes in the book as ways they could also make an impact at school. They can look for kids who are left out and include them. They can love their classmates as Jesus would, and hopefully this will open doors for them to talk to their classmates about how much Jesus loves them.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? This project has given me the chance to learn about some incredible organizations that are supporting students, families, and teachers in public schools. Organizations like Decision Point are supporting students in public schools by giving them the tools to host outreach events to share the gospel with their peers, equipping them to engage in gospel conversations and invite people to meet Jesus, and provide on-the-ground resources like Bibles and gospel tracts. Teach for the Heart provides practical help & Biblical encouragement teachers need to shine the love of Christ in their classrooms. Christian Educators is a professional association of educators - supporting, connecting, and protecting Christians working in schools. Gateways to Better Education empowers parents with tools to navigate the public schools to help their children graduate with their faith and values intact, and they guide school leaders in establishing policies and practices that protect academic and religious freedom. Ultimately, families don't need to go it alone as their child enters public school, so these organizations are making a huge impact, and it has been so encouraging to me as a parent and educator to learn about these incredible organizations.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? Some of my favorite children's book authors are Mary Ann Hoberman (Seven Silly Eaters), Amy Parker (Night Night books), Valerie Ellis (Let's Go Bible Adventures), Crystal Bowman (Who God Wants Me to Be), and Tama Fortner (God, I Feel Sad). I also love Dr. Seuss, Sandra Boynton, and Ken Taylor children's Bibles.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Let's shine the light and love of Jesus throughout our nation's schools! This is the time to be bold for Jesus! As Christians, we should be known by our love for others! The way to loving others well starts with allowing God's love to shine through us. We need to understand his great love and forgiveness for us through his death on the cross, and then we can love others the way Jesus would. Each person is fearfully and wonderfully made by God in his image, and we can choose to love them because of that! I created a 10 day devotional for families to help teach their children about loving their classmates as Jesus would called "Sharing Jesus at School" that is available for free on my website at aprilgraney.com.
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